Why Was Ghost the Direwolf Not At the Battle of the Bastards on 'Game of Thrones?'

Sunday night's Battle of the Bastards on Game of Thrones featured Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Ser Davos, Tormund Giantsbane, and even the giant Wun Wun on the battlefield agains the Boltons. But there was one key character missing: Ghost, the direwolf that has always fought for Jon.

Ghost, who has had a connection with Jon Snow since he was a pup, was nowhere to be seen. Why didn't the trusty direwolf stick by his human's side, especially when he's proven to be an efficient attack dog?

Liam Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos, told Tech Insider why Jon's companion wasn't around: because he was being kept safely away from the fighting. "I would prefer to have Ghost with Davos [rather] than with Jon," he said. "Even though it's his direwolf, I just like the idea of an insurance policy."

After all, it would have been crushingly sad to see Ghost die in the battlefield. "Obviously a big battle like that is no place for a direwolf," he added. "They're not gonna last very long—I mean look at what happened to Wun Wun, the last of the giants." (Rest in peace, Wun Wun.)

More practically, it was also an issue of keeping costs down in what was already the most elaborate shoot the show had ever seen. "[Ghost] was in there in spades originally, but it's also an incredibly time consuming and expensive character to bring to life," director Miguel Sapochnik told Business Insider. "Ultimately we had to choose between Wun Wun and the direwolf, so the dog bit the dust."

Figuratively speaking, right? There was already one dead direwolf in that episode, and fans' hearts can't take another loss.

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